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Chapter 1 Learning the Maya Interface IN THIS CHAPTER 1.1 Work with menus. 1.2 Use the Status Line buttons. 1.3 Access the Shelf. 1.4 Explore the Channel Box and Layer Editor. 1.5 Identify the animation controls, the Command Line, and the Help Line. 1.6 Use the Toolbox and Quick Layout buttons. 1.7 Discover the Secret menus. Maya is a program, created by Autodesk, used to model, animate, and render 3D scenes. 3D scenes created with Maya have appeared in movies, television, advertisements, games, product visualizations, and on the Web. With Maya, you can create and animate your own 3D scenes and render them as still images or as animation sequences. Several versions of Maya exist and the difference between them lies in the features that are included in each. The commercial version of Maya includes everything you need to create and render 3D scenes and animations. An advanced version of Maya also includes the Fluid Effects, Cloth, Hair and Fur features. A freely available version of Maya called the Personal Learning Edition is also available. The Personal Learning Edition is identical to Maya Complete, except that all renderings include a watermark, making it a great place to start if you want to learn Maya. At first glance, the Maya interface can be a little daunting, with buttons, controls, and parameters everywhere, but if you look closer you’ll realize that all of the controls are grouped into logical sets. Becoming familiar with these various sets of controls makes the interface much easier to work with. Along the top edge of the interface are the menus and a toolbar of buttons called the Status Line. The menus will change depending on the mode that you’re working in. Below the Status Line is a tabbed row of buttons. This row of buttons is called the Shelf, and it offers a convenient way to group sets of commands together. To the right of the interface is a panel of parameters called the Channel Box. These parameters, known as attributes, will change as different objects are selected. Under the Channel Box is the Layer Editor. Along the bottom of the interface are the Time Slider, the Range Slider, and the animation controls, which are used to specify and move between the different frames of an animation sequence; also at the bottom are the Command Line, for entering textual commands, and the Help Line. Finally, the horizontal column of buttons to the left of the interface is known as the Toolbox and the Quick Layout buttons. These buttons are used to select and transform scene objects and to change the interface layout. A key concept that you need to understand as you begin to work with the interface is that there are several ways to access the same command. For example, you can create a sphere using the Create, Polygon Primitives, Sphere menu command or by using the Polygon Sphere button in the Polygons shelf. This design is intentional, allowing beginners an intuitive method for accessing a command, and giving advanced users an access method that lets them work quicker as they learn the shortcuts. 1
Chapter 1: Learning the Maya Interface One of the quickest ways to access advanced-user commands is with the Secret menus. These context-specific pop-up menus appear when you right-click in the interface. Another quick way to access commands is with keyboard shortcuts, known as hotkeys. Maya gives users the option to customize the interface. Using the customization features, you can create a custom set of command icons, define keyboard shortcuts, and even alter menus. Many of the customization options are included in the Window, Settings/Preferences menu. Lesson 1.1: Work with Menus The main menu commands are the first place you should look for commands when you’re new to Maya. The commands are listed as text, making them easier to find until you learn what the various buttons do. Each menu can include several submenus. Submenus are identified by a small, right-pointing arrow at the right end of the menu. Changing Menu Sets The menus are dynamic and change depending on the menu set that is selected. You can change between the menu sets using the drop-down list that is to the very left of the Status Line, as shown in Figure 1-1. The options include Modeling, Rigging, Animation, FX, Rendering and an option to Customize the menu set drop-down list. Tip Each of the menu sets has an associated hotkey. These hotkeys are F2 for Modeling, F3 for Rigging, F4 for Animation, F5 for FX, and F6 for Rendering. The first six menu commands, File, Edit, Modify, Create, Display, and Window, are available in all menu sets. FIGURE 1-1 Menu set selection list Viewing Keyboard Hotkeys Several menu commands have a keyboard hotkey listed to the right of the menu, as shown in Figure 1-2. Pressing these hotkeys on the keyboard executes the command. Hotkeys provide a quick and easy way to execute a command, and learning to use them will make you much more efficient. You can customize hotkeys using the Hotkey Editor, which you open with the Window, Settings/Preferences, Hotkeys menu command. 2
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